Manya, Samridhi to vie for senior b’minton singles title

Jalandhar girls Samridhi Bhardwaj and Manya Ralhan will be competing in the finals for the Punjab State Senior Badminton Championship in the women singles category to be held tomorrow.

Quarterfinals and semi-finals of the women singles in the three-day event being hosted by the Jalandhar Badminton Association were held on Sunday at Mahatma Hansraj Stadium. In the quarterfinals, Samridhi Bhardwaj beat Aseespreet Kaur of Ferozepur by 21-14, 21-10. In semi-finals, she defeated Liza Taank 21-18. 21-14.

Manya defeated Jalandhar girl Sania 21-7, 21-8 in the quarterfinals to advance to semi-finals where she won against Ludhiana’s Arunima Pal 21-8, 21-12.

Top seeds in mixed doubles Manya Ralhan and Manmohit Sandhu surprisingly lost to Dhruv Dutta and Saanvi Nautiyal in the first set 19-21. But they recovered significantly in the subsequent two sets 21-12, 21-9. Liza Taank and Saanvi Nautiyal got a walkover in the semi-finals in the women doubles category.

The four winners in the men singles quarterfinals played today were Mridul Jha of Jalandhar, Shikhar Rallan of Patiala, Adhayan Kakkar and Nilesh Seth, both of Amritsar.